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"" "LET US HAVE PEACE." 



To the Reconstruction Committee of the House of Repre- 
sentatives of the United States of America : 

The objections to the Mississippi Constitutioa are of so 
weighty a character, that its rejection by the voters of the 
State was, as I verily believe, a step in the direction of Gen. 
Grant's patriotic invocation, " Let us have peace." 

It was conceived and framed in the interest of a very 
small minority of the white population, and, seemingly, in 
direct antagonism to the property and personal rights of the 
bona fide citizens and property holders of the State. Its 
cost to the poverty stricken people upon whom it was 
to be riveted, as the shackels are riveted upon the 
criminal, was three or four-fold what it should have been. 
But this is of easy explanation. A large majority of 
those who voted to tax " the property in the State," for 
the purpose of defraying the expenses of the convention, 
were persons as to whom, in relation to this onerous exac- 
tion, it might truly have been said, as was said of old, of the 
Scribes and Pharisees : " For they bind heavy burdens and 
grievous to be borne ; and lay them on men's shoulders ; but 
they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." 

To perpetuate in their own hands a monopoly of the offi- 
ces of the State, thsy disfranchise all who will not make 
oath that they " admit the political and civil equality of all 
men." 

This test oath is an attempt to proscribe men for " opin- 
ion's sake," and for entertaining an opinion too which might 
be conscientiously held by a person at the same time that 
he might be ready, in good faith, to yield practical obedience 
to all of the requirements of the Constitution, even to the 
extent of the equality of the white and colored races before 
the law. 

Next in order, all citizens are denied the right of suffrage 
who are ineligible to office under the 14th amendment of the 
Constitution of the United States ; and then comes this 
sweeping provision : 






" No person sball be eligible to any office of profit or trust, 
civil or military in this State, who, as a member of the Leg- 
islature voted for the call of the convention that passed the 
Ordinance of Secession, or who, as a delegate to any con- 
vention, voted for or signed any ordinance of secession, or 
who gave voluntary aid, countenance, counsel or encourage- 
ment to persons engaged in armed hostility to the United 
States, or who accepted or attempted to exercise the func- 
tions of any office, civil or military, under any authority or 
pretended government, authority, power or constitution 
within the United States, hostile or iuimical thereto, except 
all persons who aided reconstruction by voting for this con- 
vention, or who have continuously advocated the assembling 
of this convention, and shall continuously and in good faith 
advocate the acts of the same, but the legislature may re- 
move such disability : Provided, That nothing in this sec- 
tion, except voting for or signing the ordinance of secession 
shall be so construed as to exclude from office the private 
soldier of the late so-called Confederate States army." 

The people of Mississippi believed that Congress had pre 
scribed the disfranchisements to which tliey were to be sub- 
jected, and did not contemplate, as a remote possibility even, 
that those who claimed to be part and parcel of themselves 
would attempt to aggravate their punishment. They believed 
in the Scriptural doctrine, " For no man ever yet hated his 
own flesh ; but nourisheth and cherisheth it." But it seems 
we have fallen upon evil times, when men are seen yielding 
to temptation, and striving to make unto themselves " friends 
of the mammon of unrighteousness." 

By another provision of this now defunct carcass, it is 
made the duty of the legislature, "to immediately create an 
effective militia in the State," and to facilitate this object, 
section four of article nine provides, " all officers of militia, 
except non-commissioned officers, shall be appointed by the 
Governor, by and with the consent of the Senate, and shall 
be chosen for their military knowledge, their experience in 
arms, and their fidelity and loyalty." 

It is well known that in the opinion of the gentleman who 
presided over tbe convention, and who claims to have been 
elected Governor, no one can combine these qualifications 
who is not of his political faith. Therefore, in choosing 
militia officers, only such as had never fallen from their first 
estate of loyalty could be selected, and as a necessary con- 



3 

sequence, upon the first organization of the militia under 
this constitution, only those who had been officers or soldiers 
in the Federal army could be commissioned. Then the en- 
tire rnihtia of the State was to be commanded by strangers. 
True, unobjectionable persons of this class might be found ; 
but why this additional wholesale proscription of Mississipi- 
ans, when so many of them, who were gallant Confederate 
officers and soldiers, now bear true allegiance to the Consti- 
tution and Government of the United States, and are pre- 
pared in good faith to accept the "situation" resulting from 
the inevitable logic of past events ? 

Was it resorted to as a friendly means of conciliation and 
peace ? As a policy, is it not calculated to keep alive ani- 
mosities and memories which should die out and be forgot- 
ten ? Let Congress recognize and trust the loyalty of Mis- 
sissippi even as a grain of mustard seed, and the confidence 
reposed will not be abused ; but under a policy Avhich ex- 
cludes all confidence and is based alone upon pains and dis- 
abilities, may there not be just reason to apprehend that the 
feeling now there, favorable to loyalty and acquiescing in 
the reconstruction policy of Congress, will languish, and lan- 
guishing, will become extinct. 

The militia officers to be appointed, are a major general 
for the State at large, five brigadier generals, one for each 
Congressional district, and as many colonels, lieutenant col- 
onels, majors, captains, and ensigns as may be required for 
the efficient military organization of all able-bodied male 
citizens of the State, between the ages of eighteen and forty- 
five years. 

There are not less than 150,000 voters in the State. To 
all of this class liable to military duty, are to be added the 
able-bodied male citizens between the ages of 18 and 21. We 
confidently place the militia strength of the State at 110,000 
men. This will give one hundred and fifty regiments ; each 
regiment will require one colonel, one lieutenant colonel, 
one major, ten captains, and thirty lieutenants, making in 
all forty-three officers. Multiply one hundred and fifty by 
forty-three, and we have an aggregate of 6,450 militia offi- 
cers, or an average of one hundred and seven for each of the 
sixty counties. 

It should also be noted that the Constitution of the State 
has hitherto always contained a prohibition in these words : 
" No standing army shall be kept up without the consent of 
the legislature." 



No similar provision is found in the rejected Constitution. 
The Governor, too, has been authorized to call forth the 
militia only " to execute the laws of the State, to suppress 
insurrection, and repel invasion." This power is conferred 
upon the Governor by the rejected Constitution, vf'ith. this 
significant addition, " and to suppress riots." 

This omission on the one hand, and interpolation on the 
other, are certainly not of a character to reconcile the people 
of Mississippi to that effective organization of the militia of 
the State for which this new Constitution makes provision, 
and which vras evidently contemplated for a purpose by those 
who are now seeking power under it. 

The Judges of the Supreme, Circuit, and Chancery Courts, 
making together not fewer than twenty or upvyards, the first 
for the term of nine years, and the others for the term of 
six years, are also to be appointed by the Governor, by and 
with the consent of the Senate. 

The Governor is also to launch this ship of State by ap- 
pointing in the same way *' all county, township, and pre- 
cinct officers," whose term of office is to continue " until the 
Legislature shall provide by law for an election of said offi- 
cers." Now, when this would be, who can tell ? These 
"county, township, and precinct officers" are legion. 
They are a sheriff, coroner, treasurer, assessor, surveyor^ 
circuit clerk, five supervivors, and a competent num- 
ber of justices of the peace and constables, for each coun- 
ty. Not less than ten or fifteen justices of the peace 
and as many constables for each county will be necessary. 
Say that of these there are as many as twenty -five to be ap- 
pointed in each of the sixty counties, and we have fifteen 
hundred for the State, and this number added to the five 
supervisors for each county, three hundred in all, and one 
sherifi", one coroner, one treasurer, one assessor, one sur- 
veyor, one circuit clerk, three hundred and sixty in all, and 
we have an aggregate of twenty-one hundred and sixty civil 
officers to be added to the six thousand four hundred and 
fifty militia officers, making eight thousand six hundred and 
ten officers, military and civil, exclusive of the Supreme, Cir- 
cuit, and Chancery Judges, who are to be the appointees of 
Governor Eggleston, should Congress impose this constitu- 
tion on the people of Mississippi. 

Will not the conferring of this immense appointing power 
on Governor Eggleston be a violation at least of the spirit 
of the divine prayer, " Lead us not into temptation ?" 



Certainly the Governor and his staff, now in this city, are 
prosecuting a disinterested labor of love in asking Congress 
to install them in office witli this immense patronage over a 
people who have elected them by a large majority not to rule 
over them ! 

But the machinery of this constitution, designed for the 
exclusive benefit of Governor Eggleston and his friends, 
has not yet been fully considered. 

The eleventh section of its twelfth article is in these words : 

" The Legislature, at its first session under this constitu- 
tion, shall have authority to designate by law such loyal 
paper or papers in each Circuit Court District as shall \n\\>- 
lish all legal advertising and such official printing as shall 
be required by law in such Circuit Court District, and fix 
the compensation therefor." 

At this time the legal advertising and official printing of 
the counties of the State do much towards supporting a 
great many newspapers. Each county, in this way, pays 
enough to make its patronage an object greatly to be coveted. 
Let the patronage of two or three counties be bestowed upon 
a single paper, and the fortunate recipient will have had a 
fortune settled upon him. In this way provision has been 
made for establishing presses all over the State in the pay 
of the party, and this high pay will command able and ex- 
perienced writers, whose vocation it will be to uphold the 
powers that be, and as paid advocates, when necessary, to 
make the worse appear the better cause. 

This system, too, will certainly be inconvenient and un- 
just to those counties in which, for the want of the legal ad- 
vertising and official patronage, the people will be unable to 
maintain a paper. A county press promotes intelligence 
and reading, and communicates with many more of its citi- 
zens than any newspaper published out of the county. It 
is more accessible, too, to persons who wish to advertise or 
have printing done, and it is certainly more consonant with 
the true principles of republicanism for private citizens, who 
have to pay for printing or advertising, to bestow their 
patronage at their own election. 

But the crowning excellency of this constitution, in the 
estimation of its friends, no doubt, is the eleventh article, 
which apportions Senators and Representatives among the 
several counties and districts in the State. 

The colored voters in the State, who outnumber the white 
voters by upwards of seventeen thousand, are very un- 



6 

equally distributed over the State. Now, to make assurance 
doubly sure, by an arbitrary apportionment those counties and 
districts in which the colored vote predominates are allowed 
a much greater representation ^jer capita than the less favored 
white counties and districts. 

It is appalling how facts and figures, which are said to be 
stubborn things, have been moulded to subserve a party 
puipose at the sacrifice of right and justice. Without claim- 
ing direct representation for property or intelligence, it is 
insisted that those who possess either should not be denied 
the same representation that is given to thot^e who do not 
possess them. The mode of apportionment adopted by this 
cons*;itution is a new discovery in the science of government, 
and this is believed to be the first attempted practical appli- 
cation of it. 

The statistics of the State clearly demonstrate the truth 
of this allegation as to the unfairness of the apportionment 
of representation by this rejected constitution. 

One of the great bulwarks of English and American 
liberty has been the principle, that in all criminal prosecu- 
tions, by indictment or information, the accused has a right 
to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the 
county where the offence was committed. This principle has 
ever been cherished by American Governments, and is, it 
is true, ostentanously set forth in the Bill of Eights prefixed 
to this constitution, but then there is this emasculation of it. 
Section four, of article twelve, provides : 

" The Legislature shall provide by law for the indictment 
and trial of persons charged with the commission of any 
felony in any county other than that in which the offence 
was committed, whenever, owing to prejudice or any other 
cause, an impartial, grand, or petit jury cannot be erapan- 
nelled in the county in which the offence was com.mitted." 

This great innovation upon the principles of American 
liberty the people of Mississippi believed might and would 
be abused greatly to their oppression, by a government that 
was framed and to be administered by comparative strangers, 
as to whom there was no sufficient evidence of their com- 
mon permanent interest in, and attachment to the State. 
The adoption of this constitution by the people of Missis- 
sippi would certainly have been turning over the govern- 
ment of the State to those least competent to administer it, 
and who had the least staked upon the wisdom and justice 
of its laws, and their wise and just administration. 



The foregoing are some of the objectionable provisions 
contained in the constitution, as to wlaich, by a law of Con- 
gress, the voters of the State were authorized to vote for 
or against its adoption ; and at the same time it was made 
their duty to vote for or against the principal authors of 
this constitution as their State officers. 

In view of the character of this constitution, which so 
clearly reflected the character and purposes of its authors, 
can Congress blame a majority of the voters of Mississippi 
for having voted against it, and against the President of the 
Convention by which it was framed, as their Governor? 

What candid man, upon a full and dispassionate consid- 
eration of the whole subject, will venture to say that, as a 
citizen of Mississippi, he would have done otherwise ? 

The gentlemen now here, and who have been asking Con- 
gress to galvanize into life this dead corpse of a constitu- 
tion, are Gen. B. B. Eggleston, W. H. Gibbs, E. J. Castello 
D. McA. Williams, W. J. Morgan, H. T. Fisher, H. W. 
Barry, A. Mygatt, T. W. Stringer, L. W. Perce, and per- 
haps one or two others. 

Each of the above-named gentlemen is claiming to have 
been elected to office under this rejected constitution, either 
as Governor, State Treasurer, Auditor of Public Ac- 
counts, Member of Congress, State Senator or Kepre- 
sentative ; and moreover, no one of them, except Mr. 
Mygatt, was, I believe, a citizen of the State at the close of 
the late war. 

True statesmanship, in adopting means to an end, does 
not overlook the infirmities and passions, or the self-respect, 
and strongest convictions of those upon whom a salutary 
influence is sought to be exerted. 

Can any one believe that the forcing by Congress of this 
rejected constitution upon the people of Mississippi and the 
placing the above-named comparative strangers, and their 
allies, in the main no less strangers, in office there, will 
at all tend to promote harmony, good feeling, and peace ? 

Mississippi is prepared to adopt a constitution framed in 
strict accordance with the reconstruction policy of Congress, 
and will thereby guarantee to all of her citizens, without dis- 
tinction of race or previous condition, equality before the 
law, and protection and security in the enjoyment of all 
their rights. 



8 

And now, in behalf of Mississippians, I have only to in- 
voke at the hands of Congress, in the decision of the ques- 
tion — " Shall this constitution be now forced upon Missis- 
sippi ?" — the application of the golden rule, "As ye would 
that men should do unto you. do ye also unto them," 
" Let us have peace." 

JNO. W. C. WATSON, 

Of Mississippi. 
February 6th, 1869. 



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